California lawmakers, Gov. Jerry Brown strike deal on budget

SACRAMENTO >> Gov. Jerry Brown and top legislative Democrats announced Friday that they had reached an agreement on a $108 billion state budget for the fiscal year starting in July.

The formal announcement of a deal came one day after the Legislature’s joint budget committee finished negotiating high-profile compromises and 48 hours before lawmakers’ deadline to pass a new spending plan.

“The leaders of the Legislature have worked very hard to build a solid and sustainable budget that pays down debts, brings stability to the teachers’ pension system and builds at long last a reliable Rainy Day Fund,” Brown said in a news release.

Earlier this week, Brown and the legislative leaders struck key deals that will expand low-income children’s access to preschool, help finance the bullet train and allow in-home care workers for the elderly and disabled to collect overtime pay.

“This budget proves once again that negotiation and cooperation can achieve a great outcome,” said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who applauded the spending plan’s “clear focus on children.”

For many years, striking a California budget deal meant agreeing on what programs and services to cut to close billion-dollar budget gaps. Now that California’s finances have improved, the state can get back to its obligation to invest in its people, said Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego.

“For years, California’s budgets were about getting out of a hole,” Atkins said in a release. “This budget is about building a foundation for the future.”

The Assembly and Senate have scheduled floor sessions for 4 p.m. Sunday to begin voting on the budget, which is widely expected to pass with large majorities in both houses.